Max Verstappen dismissed claims that his rivalry with Toro Rosso team mate Carlos Sainz is reaching a boiling point.
Verstappen was at the center of some colorful and repetitive radio messages in the latter part of last Sunday's Australian GP, the Dutchman expressing to his frustration and impatience with having to deal with Sainz, whom he considered slower than him at that point of the race.
The Toro Rosso junior bull urged his team to ask Sainz, himself hot on the heels of Jolyon Palmer's Renault, to let him through, but the Spaniard remained in front.
While many pundits believe the relationship between the two junior bulls is set to implode, Verstappen, who has yet to sit-down with Sainz, cold-shouldered the remarks.
"Off-track, everything is going well, so there are no issues and it doesn't affect me,' he said in an interview with Laureus.
"I think everyone wants to beat their teammate. But I do not see big problems with this."
As Verstappen demonstrated in qualifying last weekend, Toro Rosso's pace puts the team in regular contention for points this season, but a race win emulating what Sebastian Vettel achieved in 2008 still appears a distant dream for the Faenza squad.
"That would be going a bit too far," Verstappen concluded. "You always dream and have hope, but we would need a lot of luck for that."
Scene at the Australian Grand Prix
Australian Grand Prix - Quotes of the weekend
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